Alpha Dog

Shilo and Jack were twins and they had never been separated by more than a few heart beats. Their coats were mostly black, but their bellies were white, as were their feet. Both of their faces were white with black blotches over each ear and each eye. They looked almost identical, except for some coloring on the face. Shilo's eyes were enveloped by lightish, creme colored fur while Jack had a line of grey hairs around the top of his right eye that made him seem older and wiser somehow.

Their territory was small, but it was theirs alone. Two floors in the shelter and a decently sized yard made up their land and they guarded the small claim with pride. They had not been here for long, but, given that they were still young, they had no memories of anything before. This place was all that they knew.

Though the two young pups looked a lot alike, they were very different in how they ruled over their land.

Shilo was an outgoing explorer. She poked her nose into every nook and cranny she could and she was even the first to survey the top floor, before Jack had even summed up the courage to climb the steep steps. She would often try to take samples from her excursions. She would sniff around a room and find a small trophy to take back down to her brother for examination. Sometimes she was caught and received a scolding from the tall ones who cared for them, but most of the time she was able to get back down the stairs without any interruption.

She and her brother would revel in their small cache of goods, but the items would disappear sooner or later, forcing Shilo to go looking for them again and again. She suspected the tall ones, but held no grudge against her caretakers. They left water and food out for her and her brother. They also gave her love and praise when they were in the right mood. Even though she loved and sought attention from the tall ones, she also felt the need to rebel against their commands. Like with her small trophies; She felt they were rightly hers because she had gone and discovered them and taken them, but the tall ones did not like it when they found her chewing on the trophies and they would take them while giving her a stern scolding.

Jack was not like his sister. He was a shy and subordinate creature. He preferred the bottom floor of their territory, more precisely, he preferred to stay in his small cave. It was a space behind the long red seat where the tall ones often sat and listened to the sounds coming from the black box. The space was covered by a white slab and protected on the sides by four black sticks of equal height. It was here that Jack felt safest. There was only one exposed side and so this is the side where he always faced, keeping his back against the red wall of his cave. Jack was paranoid and untrusting, he always had been.

He did trust his sister and the tall ones. His sister was always there with him and they instinctively looked after one another, he couldn't help but trust her. The tall ones were harder. They hadn't always been there, but he believed that they meant him no harm. They usually had kind words for him and petted him on the head and belly, making him feel good and safe. Also they were his lifeline, he had to trust that they always would be.

Given the two differing personalities, it was Shilo who usually took the lead. She would jump forward to defend them and she would be the first to test out something new, to make sure it was safe. Jack allowed this and even relied on it. He was too cautious to jump so willingly into the unknown.

However, their differences sometimes resulted in friction. Shilo would often take advantage of Jack's passive nature. When it came to receiving love and praise from the tall ones, she would push him away and take his spot, keeping him from getting the love that was his to begin with. He would try to nuzzle back in, whining to get the attention he longed for, but his sister was persistent and the tall ones seemed oblivious to the fight for attention. They would just laugh and continue petting whichever nose was being pushed into their hands.

There were only two things in which Jack would not allow his sister to take advantage of him. Those were his water/food and his safe cave. These things he guarded vehemently with the eons of subconscious instincts  pushing him towards self preservation.

Shilo respected her brothers wishes... most of the time.

One day Shilo was nosing along on the bottom floor looking a little weary and sad. Her brother was lying in his usual place, but even from his cave he could see the long, sad puppy eyes that Shilo was making into the floor.

Jack raised his head and tilted it to the side in a questioning manner until his sister met his eyes and whined very softly so that the sound caught in the back of her throat. Jack understood. He had seen Shilo go up to the top floor of the domain earlier in the day and she had just returned with nothing to show for it.

Jack glanced around at the unusually clean room, noticing for the first time that day that none of their usual chewing trophies were on the floor. The tall ones must have cleaned while he was taking his morning nap.

His ears perked toward the ceiling, to where the bottom floor became the top floor. He knew that up there was where the tall ones spent much of their time. He could here some soft sounds right above him so he knew that the head female was home in bed. He could also hear the tell-tale loud, clashing melodies from the boy's game room. He and his sister avoided this room because the noise hurt their sensitive ears.

As far as Jack could tell, he and Shilo had the bottom floor to themselves.

Jack stretched lazily till his back snapped into line before he inched out of his cave into the open space of the bottom floor.

Shilo saw this and her tail wagged slowly side to side, happy that her brother would keep her company. She met Jack in the middle of the room and they bumped noses once in greeting. Jack continued in the direction he had been headed and Shilo spun lithely to follow.

Jack was heading for the downstairs bedroom which was almost always open and, just as often, littered with chewable objects. He didn't know whether Shilo had already checked there, but he felt it was a good place to start. He entered the room hesitantly, eyeing the corners to see if they were alone, but before he could enter his sister bounded past and jumped straight onto the bed. She bounced once before plotting a spot, spinning in on herself so that she was curled into a warm ball.

Jack sniffed loudly, voicing his disapproval for her carelessness, before he followed inside and began sniffing around the floor in every crevice. He checked the main floor, under the bed, and even turned to the hole in the wall where there was usually an abundance of ripe smelling leather, but everywhere he looked he was denied. By some miracle, the boys room was clean.

Just as he was giving up, Shilo slid off the bed, landing directly in Jack's path, forcing Jack to step back with a soft warning growl. Shilo was unperturbed by the warning and instead stood straight, her head and tail in the air as she shook her head in a haughty, knowing way. She was flaunting because Jack had not taken her word that there was no chewables to be found.

Jack growled a little louder and brushed past his sister, picking up the pace so that he could beat his sister to the outside area. She thought she knew everything, but he had a special place for an occasion like this. His caution would save him the discomfort of not having anything to gnaw at when his gums felt sore, while Shilo would be stuck watching.

He was running by the time he passed through the special doggie entrance so he was able to find his hiding spot and root out his rope tied to a bone before Shilo had even joined him out side. Jack bit into the rope and shook his head energetically so that the bone flopped side to side by his head, waving at Shilo in a taunting way. Then, before his head could become too dizzy, he stopped and snapped his head back proudly before sauntering past his sister and heading back inside.

At first, Shilo was to shocked by Jack's find to even respond. Then her shock faded and envious anger filled its place. She wanted possession of the last chew toy and even felt it was her right since she had provided for her brother so many times in the past.

With this in mind, Shilo barreled through the doggie door and didn't even stop before knocking into her brother. She butted into his side so that he toppled and his teeth loosened their hold on the rope. Knowing that his shock would fade fast, she slipped in and bit the rope, pulling it away with ease.

She trotted away, feeling triumphant, and lay a couple feet from her brother so she could gnaw on her trophy while keeping an eye on him. She felt confident that he would simply retreat into his cave and leave her be, so she was shocked when he came over to her and began to growl threateningly.

Jack inched his nose closer to the rope, growling all the while, using the sound to try and portray a sense of dominance that he didn't truly feel. He was able to get a bite of the rope, but when he tried to tug his sister wouldn't release. She was rejecting his command, rejecting his claim to alpha. He growled even louder, but that made things worse. Now Shilo was growling too and getting to her feet, preparing to fight for the trophy if it came to that.

Jack got to his feet and bared his teeth. They both knew that they were going to fight for the prize, but they also knew that it would be nothing like the vicious "To the Death" dog fights of their ancestors. This was a mere shadow of old customs, but it had to be done or else they would never know who held the title of Alpha in their small two dog pack.

Jack was about to make the first move, but then a hand came between them and pushed Jack back a foot. It was one of the tall ones holding another common trophy that they were often allowed to chew on. She said a few nonsense words while she took the rope from Shilo's mouth. Shilo gave it without a fight, she knew that obeying the tall ones came above all other things for they meant food, water, and shelter. The tall one wagged the rope at Shilo, using a scolding tone that made Shilo cringe into the floor submissively.

Jack watched worringly about what fate would befall his sister, but then the tall one turned to him and he forgot about anyone but himself. He cringed prematurely into the floor, but was happily surprised when the tall one pet him kindly, used a nice tone, and gave him the rope. He took the rope eagerly with a sense of importance. The tall one had symbolically named him the Alpha.

The tall one gave Shilo the conciliation prize, a much smaller and softer chew toy, then left the two dogs alone again.

Jack and Shilo looked at one another in silence, each holding their prize in their teeth. Jack sat straight, his tail wagging freely; While Shilo sat hunched, her tail lying listlessly beside her. She bowed her head to her brother; She too acknowledged that the tall one had chosen Jack and she would honor this decision.

Jack nodded his approval before taking his prize into his cave so that he could enjoy it along with his new sense of power.

From that day on things ran a little differently in the domain. For the most part, Shilo was the same, but in front of the tall ones she became more submissive. She bent to their will more easily, less stubborn than she once had been. She also allowed Jack to take more of the attention, holding back when she saw him getting petted. She soon found that most of the time, if she was patient, one of the tall ones would come and even the score by lavishing her with love.

Jack had also changed. He became more proud and stood up against the tall ones as much as he was able. He did not take their commands as easily anymore and he even refused point blank to go outside unless he felt like going. The tall ones didn't know what had changed with Jack, but he was even spending less time in his cave. He was trotting around the ground floor with his head held high. He had also taken it as his duty to help answer the door, preparing to growl at anyone that his masters did not welcome.

Jack guarded his domain with the pride of an Alpha dog.